Paradigms in Modern European Comparative Law A History

<p>This book uses the philosophy of Thomas Kuhn to provide a new vision of the development of European comparative law that will challenge and inspire scholars in the field.<br><br>With the ‘empathic’ use of some ideas from Kuhn’s theories on the history of science – paradigm, paradigm-shift, puzzle-solving research and incommensurability – the book rethinks the modern history of European comparative law from the late 19th century to the modern day. <br><br>It argues that three major paradigms determine modern comparative law:<br>- historical and comparative jurisprudence, <br>- <i>droit comparé</i>, and <br>- post-World War II comparative law.<br><br>It concludes that contemporary methodological trends are not signs of a paradigm-shift toward a postmodern and culturalist understanding of comparative law, but that the new approach spreads the idea of methodological plurality.</p>